


Boy's Night Out

by latin_cat



Category: Blake et Mortimer | Blake and Mortimer
Genre: Behind the Scenes, Friendship (sort of), Gen, Off Duty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:47:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25697539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/latin_cat/pseuds/latin_cat
Summary: Life isn't all daring heists, gun-fights and political machinations.
Relationships: Colonel Olrik & Sharkey (Blake et Mortimer)
Kudos: 7





	Boy's Night Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Atlantic_Seaglass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Atlantic_Seaglass/gifts).



> I was feeling a bit down over the weekend, so I tried to cheer myself up with some classic cinema. The boys ended up watching with me and commentating. (Also the shortest piece I've written for this fandom so far.)
> 
> Hrivnak appears courtesy of **Atlantic_Seaglass**.

He isn’t entirely sure how this happened.

With a little idle time on their hands whilst waiting for conditions to mature on this latest job, a few of the boys had chosen to go out to the cinema that evening. In a fit of conviviality, Sharkey had suggested he join them. In all likelihood he hadn’t expected his boss to accept, and ordinarily Olrik would never dream of doing so.

Yet for some unknown reason he still doesn’t understand, he finds himself sitting in the second to back row of the Roxy Kino in Neustadt, watching a dubbed Omar Sharif making a decent go of portraying Genghis Khan, and belatedly wishing he’d not allowed Sharkey to buy popcorn.

Astonishingly, the experience is nowhere near the ordeal the colonel imagined it might be. He spends the majority of the two hours mentally taking notes of the many liberties the screenplay has taken with history, and getting mildly irritated with the excessive focus on the romance plot. The only real blight on the evening comes twenty minutes into the picture, when a slowly rising stink to his right alerts Olrik to the fact that Pfeiffer has removed his shoes – a situation quickly resolved by a sharp kick and hissed order of _‘Ziehen Sie sie wieder an!’*_.

On emerging from the cinema into the chilled (and fresh) night air, Pfeiffer and Hrivnak trailing behind a little as they pause to light up cigarettes, the colonel has to admit that on the whole the film had been reasonably entertaining. Certainly a decent enough distraction for a Thursday evening.

Sharkey is of course a lot more enthusiastic – and vocal – with his praise as they file out onto the pavement. It would seem only a limited understanding of German did not in any way impair his lieutenant’s enjoyment of the film.

‘Boy, that was great!’

Olrik pulls up the collar of his coat, and not just to keep off the chill. ‘You’re easily pleased.’

Sharkey pulls a face. ‘Aw, c’mon, Boss! You gotta admit the battles were good.’

The colonel gives a non-committal grunt. His own experience of cavalry skirmishes, both the armoured and non-armoured variety, begs to differ with that assertation; but the scenes were shot purely for spectacle, and he concedes they succeeded in that regard.

‘And that Emperor guy was funny,’ Sharkey carries on, seemingly oblivious to his boss’ indifference. His large brow creases momentarily. ‘Didn’t look very Chinese, though.’

Olrik tries not to sneer at the thought of Robert Morley and James Mason doing their best “Inscrutable Oriental” turns. ‘That’s not surprising.’

‘And that princess… What’s her name? Frances, something? Francine?’

‘Françoise Dorléac.’

‘Yeah, that’s her.’ Sharkey gives the company a none-too-subtle suggestive wink. ‘She made pretty swell viewing! Right, boys?’

Ignoring the agreeing dirty chuckles from the others, Olrik recalls the very carefully erotic shot of Sharif’s bare legs in the bedroom scene, and privately labels it the highlight of the film. Given a choice between the two leading actors, he has no doubt whose company he’d prefer in that regard.

Meanwhile, Sharkey is looking at his watch.

‘Say, it’s not that late.’ He lifts his head and takes a glance around the well-lit street. ‘Could probably find someplace still to get a beer…’

As Hrivnak eagerly pipes up that he knows a good place a couple of streets away, it suddenly becomes clear to Olrik that, although he has enjoyed the evening so far, any further foray will exceed his limit for conviviality. Especially in the sort of low, grotty dive that Hrivnak is likely to favour; probably with some fifth-rate leg show as a cabaret, to boot.

‘Do what you like,’ he says gruffly. He abruptly steps to the edge of the pavement and flags down a taxi. ‘I’m heading back to my hotel.’

That instantly wipes the smile off Sharkey’s face. Good God, if Olrik didn’t know any better he’d swear the big oaf had _wanted_ him to stick around!

‘Oh. Sure, Boss,’ he says, slightly hesitantly. ‘You going to be ok getting back?’

The glare Olrik gives him makes the man shrink in on himself.

‘Ok, yeah. Sorry. ‘Night, Boss.’

Olrik gets into the taxi and slams the door shut on him, all too happy to leave the little group on the pavement behind. Conviviality is definitely overrated.

FIN.

* * *

*German Translation Note: ‘Put them back on!’

**Author's Note:**

> The featured film is "Genghis Khan" (1965). It was released in West Germany on 70mm film, and like most foreign language cinema releases since 1949 received a German language dub.
> 
> It's actually a pretty decent film (though take it as read as being deeply problematical re: race and culture as any Hollywood movie of the era), and an interesting example of what went into making an 'epic' film back then - along with providing a masterclass in how to use fretwork screens to show as much nudity as possibly whilst still meeting the censorship guidelines. Lots of nice mountains. And a lot of horses. And sweaty bare-chested men wrestling. Did I mention the horses?


End file.
